I hate you
by ronitfan
Summary: Written for a prompt by lilmermaid / livejournal : What if Will hadn't backed off when Mac asked him to, and she *had* hit him?
1. Chapter 1

Mac raised her hands over her head, asking him to step away. For a moment, Will had lost all hope of ever getting her back. He was sure he had lost her. He could not have imagined a conversation on these lines happening, ever. Had he been such a big douche to her, and such a big douche in general? He really found that hard to beleive. But then, he rememberd his admission to a crisis of confidence. Maybe this was where it ended.

If there was one area where he needed all the confidence he had, it was this. He could not afford not being supremely confident this one time because that fear of losing her had made him supremely confident of the fact that he wanted her back in his life. This was one area he could not mess up in. The last two years were swimming in his head, all those moments, those half glances, those gentle touches, those longing looks - hell, he wanted her back.

He failed to realize that he was unconsciously moving towards her while he thought about all this. It was as if his body was moving in autopilot. He moved closer to her with his arms slowly rising, looking like they would end on her shoulders. And before he knew it, he felt a punch in his stomach. His first reaction was to laugh at the image of Mackenize punching him, because Mackenzie punching anyone was funny because it was so not what she was as a person. The potential smile quickly turned into a grimace as the pain rose to his chest, making him recoil and almost fall on to the chair behind him.

A small gasp escaped her mouth and she almost jumped towards him. She feared she'd hurt him bad, bad enough that he woud not be able to return to the decision desk without a grimace on his face.

'Will!', she gasped again, her hands on his lapels as she steadied him. Her hand instinctively cupped his face, trying to read the expression in his pained eyes as they squinted, trying to refocus on the surroundings, on her. He managed a weak smile at her, his eyes reflecting nothing but love. In a way, he was glad she had hit him, it was a release for her. And God knows, he deserved it, and some more. Her hand returned to his lapel, now tugging him down as she could not find words. She stared at her shoes, tugging at his lapels in frustration. Will wanted nothing more than to nestle a finger below her chin, titl it upwards and plant the softest of kisses on her lips. But he knew this was not the time to act ,this was the time to wait. She needed this time.

But the next thing she did blew all the wind from his sails. Looking up at him, she broke his heart when a lone tear escaped her eyes with a frustrated sigh.

'I hate you', she mumbled, before hastily leaving the hair and make up room, and a devastated Will in her trail


	2. Push & Pull

It was downright painful for Mac to see what Will was doing, or trying to do after what happened between them in the hair and make up room. His eyes had that darkness she always dreaded, because that never ended well. He was completely ignoring her interventions through the headset and neither did he care to acknowledge what she was saying. For a moment, she contemplated just giving the control to Don and leaving the control room. She could not take it any more. She watched and watched as Will mercilessly cut Sloan and Don in the run up to calling the elections, as he very uncharacteristically let Tayler get personal with his political allegiance and literally tear him apart, casting serious doubt on all his calls as the moral centre of the show.

Her gasp was audible as she thanked the almighty for small mercies like this last commercial they had just broken into. Almost everyone in the control room heard it and she watched as Will flinched at the desk, pulling the headset almost instantly and continuing to scribble something on his notepad. This time, when he needed some information, he plugged in the headset called out for Don who responded nervously. Don shot an uneasy look at Mac before giving Will all the latest numbers he needed. Mac was not going to take this any further. She intervened and started telling Will what to do when they returned. Without looking up, Will held out a finger in the general direction of the camera before returning to writing his notes, a clear signal that he did not want her in his ear at the moment. Mac clenched her jaw, mentally willing herself forward. Don could see the rage in her eyes and could only be thankful for it being the last commercial and the last segment because he could not stand being in this tense atmosphere any more than that.

Mac was hardly able to hold herself together for the last segment. When she did speak to him, she made the instructions were audible and meant for all four of them. Will's jaw was still firmly set, not an errant word leaving his mouth. His knuckles were going white from the sheer force with which he was gripping his pen. The last segment went without a hitch and as soon as Will called the elections and they were clear, he looked at the camera for a few moments more than required, mentally zoning himself for something and then silently left the studio even as Don and Elliot congratulated him and each other for a great broadcast. As he left, they looked at each other, confused. Sloan tried to reach out to Mac but was surprised to see her absent from the control room. Don just gave her an unsure shrug in return to her questioning eyes. She let out a sigh.

Will escaped to his office. The rage and pain inside him was making his hands tremble but he'd be damned if he let anyone else see this. He did not even care for a second glance at Mac's office as he passed it by, pushing the door open with so much force he was scared he'd break it. His notes still in his hand, he flung the notepad on his table and bent over his table, his shaky arms somehow holding him up. Angry tears threatened to escape his eyes, now stinging at his eyelids. Looking up with his eyes closed, he tried to will those tears into disappearing, an unsuccessful attempt.

He rushed over to the other side of his desk now, his hands rummaging through his messenger bag. Taking out a small key, he nervously opened his drawer and the pale blue Tiffany box was right there, staring back at him. Grabbing it hastily, he stuffed it into his pocket and walked over to Mac's cabin, not even caring to knock before he entered. Mac was clearing her office. And then it all came back to him, he had fired her. He did not know what to do now. But his anger was getting the better of him.

"You can't leave", he growled

"Excuse me?"

"You can't leave, you are legally obliged to stay till the end of the week. I just talked to legal"

She could not believe this man. Was this some sort of new punishment? Some new trick? And he had the gall to say that to her in that tone! She moved towards him threateningly, about to start a huge argument. He dodged her and went over to her desk, placing the box on her table and then staring dead into her eyes. His eyes were dead, but still displaying pure anger.

"I hate you too"

He left without another word, and Mac felt like she'd just been trampled over.


End file.
